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Fun Archival Photos
Today I visited the City of Toronto Archives. My goal was to find advertising images of Canadian made bikes from the 1890s to 1910 or 20. Re. CCM I find that there's a gap in our familiarity of their bikes from 1900-1917. I didn't find much in the way of early advertising, but found some fun photos. The first photo I will post showed me that the stubby front fender, cut off at the fork crown, was still in style in c.1907 when this photo was believed to have been taken. I could not read the name on the head badge even with a magnifying glass, but does someone recognize the outline shape of the badge? The caption with the photo was something like Bill James Jr. receives his first Canadian bike, which got my attention. I'd love to know what it is.
In the photo with the ladies, is that a Planet chain ring? It's also from 1907. They've lost one of the grips.
The photo with the little sister riding on the handlebars was taken on Toronto Island in 1908. I love the big grin she has - it's a nice contrast to the super-serious posed photos of the day.
I was surprised to find a photo of bikes stored vertically. I've seen that done in the basements of condos, but didn't know they did that back in 1898 when this was taken. The man on the right looks to have a Massey Silver Ribbon.
Finally, the surprise of the day was the photo of the boys riding by the Don River in 1912. I guess they were more focused on swimming than cycling! Is that another Planet chainring?
Rather than posing the question, I realized I should check photos of my own bike - yep, those two bikes are Planets! All those photos except the storage photo are from the same collection - from the James family. So either the family had more than one Planet bicycle, Planet bikes were popular, or it's the same Planet bike, one with the fenders on and one with the fenders off? Planets were made on Queen Street East in Toronto.
The Planets were one of the more popular and successful Toronto based brands to come out of the 1890s bicycle boom. They were obviously, well designed and rugged bicycles bicycles as, along with CCM, they were awarded contracts to supply bicycles to the Canadian military during the Great War.
Attached is an early Planet advertisement. Basesd on the company name, it is post 1896 when McLean & Bulley dissolved their partnership, yet the address suggests it may pre-date the 1901 expansion.
Thanks for sharing the great photos Brian.